...And that's just how we were feeling when we landed in Cairns, Australia, and the temperature was a balmy 35 degrees C. (Oh yeah, add... sweat, sweat, sweat to that.) Weather aside, Queensland is an amazing place to visit. We had a wonderful time snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns and the Whitsunday Islands. As well we revisited the sand dunes of Fraser Island and enjoyed a day of driving on sand roads and the beach. We even took our turn being stuck on the beach with our bus as the tide came in.
One particular highlight revolved around our stay at Creole Castle, the home of Paul and Karen Savy, friends of Bernie and Kathleen Townsend. Talk about an island-type refuge... 50 plus acres of rainforest lovingly developed and cared for by both Paul and Karen to recreate their own Seychelles getaway. Walking around their yard was an epicurean, flora, and fauna adventure. Lemons, vanilla beans, ginger, spices of every variety, hibiscus, fragipani, Ulysses butterflies, cassowaries, kangaroos... it was all amazing in it exoticness and overwhelming in its beauty. We cannot thank them enough for their hospitality and the chance to share their personal 'Garden of Eden'.
Australia has changed a lot since our last visit in 2002. Small beach communities (read hippy) have expanded into coastal easy living properties (read retirement) and the beaches of the Gold Coast, once filled with a cluster of high rise buildings now boast an unending shoreline of skyscrapers. Prices of properties have skyrocketed but Bernie and I are still trying to figure out where we should retire to... should we decided to retire. Whatever we end up doing, Australia remains an amazing place to visit.
If you've read Bernie's blog, you'll know that our time on the South Island was extended due to some incredible unforeseen circumstances. Our initial ten days in the south expanded itself to an additional three weeks, most of which was filled with doctor appointments, phone calls and emails to our family and friends with health updates, and more phone calls and emails to our travel agent and people in Australia to rearrange our itinerary. And... to top it all off, we got to make lots of phone calls to our travel insurance company back in Canada to see how best to handle this situation financially. Being unwell in a foreign country (even an English speaking one) is mentally and physically exhausting in and of itself.
But on the brighter side of things, our lives during these extra weeks were enriched by these experiences, our faith was tested and strengthened, and our belief in the goodness of others was affirmed hundreds of times over. God was very evident and faithful. Our time in Dunedin was blessed by the goodness of people like Catherine McKinlay and especially Dr. Alastair Yule, who was quite literally there when we needed him.
So now, what to do with the extra time that was given us. Well, if you look at our pictures, you'll see that we didn't let too much grass grow under our feet. A return trip to Lumsden was in order since we needed to reconnect with the wonderful Goodeve family (Guy, Vicki, Lucy, and Kate) and thank them for taking care of us and letting us stay and rest awhile during Bernie's recovery from eye surgery. Next we really needed to get that visit in to Milford Sound since we'd cancelled it once before. But best of all, we were able to really explore the rest of the South Island and make plans for our return one day. From climbing the Fox Glacier to walking around Lake Matheson (Mirror Lake), to exploring the beautiful city of Dunedin, we filled our time (and our camera disk) with wonderful pictures and memories of a beautiful country filled with exceptional people.
